Indonesia - Bali launches operation targeting foreigners

Since early this week, the Denpasar administration has launched an operation targeting foreigners living in the city, checking their visas and permits, in an effort to prevent transnational crimes.

"We know where the foreigners live from regular reports from the district heads. We are targeting these locations,... said Denpasar public protection agency's senior ranking official Anak Agung Made Sumarjaya.

He said the operation was conducted to ensure the foreigners had proper documents, as well as to anticipate crime committed by international syndicates.

According to Sumarjaya, many foreigners in Bali were involved in various crimes, such as drug trafficking and pedophilia.

"As one of the foreigners' main entrances to Indonesia, Bali should be more aware. Therefore, we are conducting this operation....

This operation is also being carried out in connection with the upcoming ASEAN Summit in November, as well as many other international events, such as the APEC conference.

"We check whether their documents are genuine and up-to-date. They should also report to the district head in their neighborhood, especially those who have been living in one place for a long time,... Sumarjaya said.

Based on the recent operation, his office had only found two foreigners misusing their visas.

Haerun from the Denpasar Immigration Office said that the monitoring operation was more difficult as there were many foreigners who chose to live in mixed housing complexes where local people resided.

"The Denpasar administration has actively and regularly carried out operations to monitor foreigners. We hope other regency administrations will actively conduct similar monitoring operations. We also need the public, especially district heads, to help us in completing the data about foreigners in their neighborhoods....

He said foreigners misusing their visas would be questioned intensively, and if they were found to be misusing the documents, they would be deported.

Wasti Atmodjo in Denpasar/The Jakarta Post | ANN

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